Audit: Sheriff failed to collect oil-company taxes, seize property

A Houma-based oil and gas company owes three years worth of taxes to Terrebonne Parish because the former sheriff failed to collect the money, auditors said.

Katie UrbaszewskiStaff Writer

A Houma-based oil and gas company owes three years worth of taxes to Terrebonne Parish because the former sheriff failed to collect the money, auditors said.Ex-sheriff Vernon Bourgeois failed to collect $315,000 in taxes from Baby Oil Inc., a Houma-based company, according to an audit. Bourgeois, who left office June 30 after serving a single four-year term, also did not seize the company’s property in lieu of the unpaid taxes, the audit says.Jerry Larpenter, who was sheriff for decades, called for the audit after returning to the office in July following a four-year absence. The audit details more than a dozen “audit concerns” aside from the unpaid taxes, several of which could run afoul of the law.Efforts to contact Bourgeois have been unsuccessful.Larpenter has filed a lawsuit at the Terrebonne Parish Courthouse against Baby Oil seeking the unpaid taxes.Baby Oil President Neil Suard asked Bourgeois for more time to pay the taxes owed, according to the lawsuit.But Bourgeois does not have that authority, Sheriff’s Office attorney Bill Dodd said.“Despite the apparent extra time given to the defendant, Baby Oil Inc., said taxes were still not paid and remain outstanding and due under law,” the lawsuit says.Suard, owner of the failed indoor football team the Bayou Bucks, did not return multiple phone messages.The audit, prepared by the certified public accounting firm Kolder, Champagne, Slaven & Co., said Bourgeois violated the state Constitution as it relates to tax collection. “When taxes on moveables are delinquent, the tax collector shall seize and sell sufficient movable property ... to pay the tax, whether or not the property seized is the property which was assessed,” the Constitution says. Moveables are taxable possessions other than land or buildings. Taxes become delinquent several months after the Dec. 31 due date, and at that time the sheriff must put the property up for auction.“Sale of the property shall be at public auction ... after 10 days advertisement, published within 10 days after date of seizure. It shall be absolute and without redemption,” the constitution says.When he was sheriff, Bourgeois hired the CPA firm and then fired it because he “didn’t like the answers they gave him,” Larpenter said.The concerns cited in the audit are only suggestions, said Rafael Goyeneche III, president of the anti-corruption Metropolitan Crime Commission. However, the state Legislative Auditor can refer any allegations of wrongdoing over to the state Attorney General’s Office.Larpenter has said he plans to notify the AG’s Office himself, and that the completed audit should reach the Legislative Auditor within a week.The lawsuit against Baby Oil says the company owes:$128,000 for 2009.$97,000 for 2010.$90,000 for 2011.Interest, penalties and attorney’s fees.The company also owes about $66,000 in taxes for 2012, but that money is not due until Monday, according to Terrebonne Parish Assessor’s Office records.The lawsuit, filed last month, has been assigned to District Judge Johnny Walker. Suard asked for an extension to respond to the petition, according the legal papers.Sheriffs, who also serve as tax collectors, file lawsuits when taxes go unpaid to ensure the government gets the taxes it’s owed, Dodd said.Under state law, if companies or homeowners disagree with the assessed value of their property, they can pay those taxes or a portion of those taxes under protest, Dodd said. The Sheriff’s Office has to set up a special account for those who pay under protest.“There’s some every year, a few oil companies that do that,” Larpenter said.However, if the taxpayer fails to file a lawsuit within the required time frame — which was the case for Baby Oil — that taxpayer loses the right to pay taxes under protest, Dodd said.“All the different problems identified in that audit are really symptoms of the sheriff’s inability to perform his duties in a responsible manner. ... He failed to perform an essential duty of his office,” Goyeneche said.Goyeneche said he’s not sure if Bourgeois could face charges for his role in Baby Oil’s delinquent tax bill.If Baby Oil’s properties were properly assessed, “that was money the parish was entitled to receive,” Goyeneche said.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.

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